"I've come back from almost nowhere": Holger Rune left delighted after return from negative spiral under Boris Becker

Holger Rune has credited his new coach, Boris Becker for his new found momentum after his defeat to Novak Djokovic on Friday evening 7-5, 6-7, 6-4. After a poor time with injuries and illness and loss of form, he has shown that his top level is still in there.

Reaching the semi-finals of Basel, he followed that up by losing in the Quarter-Finals in Paris after in recent months barely winning a game. He puts that down to the new dynamic shared with the tennis legend.

“It’s never easy to reverse a negative spiral like the one I went through, and he helped me do it,” the world No 7 told reporters.

“I’ve come back from almost nowhere, from a period where I was losing all the time in the first round to a big match like this against Novak, close to my best level. Two months ago, I would certainly have lost this match in two sets. It just goes to show how far I’ve come.

“It was a similar battle to last year, except that I was a little too passive this time,” added Rune on the Djokovic clash. “I could have done a few things differently, I lacked a bit of courage at times. Maybe it was also him who made me more passive. Now I have to analyse all that so that I can come back stronger and try to beat him in Turin (at the ATP Finals).”

While Becker may be a focal point at tournaments with press conferences held in recent weeks to include the tennis legend and cameras focusing in on him, he is leaving his Danish charge to do the talking and heading towards the 2024 season, the time off to recoup after the ATP Finals if Becker remains by his side could be a dangerous proposition for the rest of the tour.